Everything For You
by EvenAngelsFall22
Summary: Heartbreak. It can make you do the unimaginable. At least, that's what Carly and Courtney are about to find out.
1. Prologue

The double funeral was expected to draw several hundreds of people from all corners of the world to Port Charles on that unforgivably bright and sunny day. Some would be there out of genuine respect to the deceased, while others would be there mainly due to obligation or a sense of duty. One common bond however, would hold every single mourner together as one.

They all would be there to see if it was indeed true. To see that both of them were actually dead.

The bomb had gone off not quite a week before, and the reality still hadn't set in to most. Four lives had been taken, three others gravely threatened.

Two families forever ripped apart.

It was how she got through the last week. By listing and counting and focusing on fact and detail, rather than feeling and emotion and anything else that would indeed make her crazy.

When she woke up that morning from a sedative-induced sleep she still couldn't, or maybe wouldn't, believe what she had to do.

How? How could she bury her husband and his best friend? How could she sit there and accept the condolences of concerned well-wishers and business associates knowing that among them would be the ones responsible. How could she keep her sanity, and make sure her best friend didn't lose hers either?

How could she say good-bye?

Carly Corinthos got out of her bed, slipped into her bathrobe, and headed across the hallway to another bedroom, where no doubt, the same thoughts were running through another woman's head.

She was still in bed, her body facing away from the door. Her oldest son was sitting on the bed next to her.

"How is she?" Carly asked softly. However brutal the last week had been on her, it was nowhere near the pain Courtney Morgan was going through. While they were burying their husbands today, Courtney had already buried a son the day before.

Jason Jr., or Jack, as they all called him, looked up and Carly was immediately struck by how much he looked like Jason. He shook his head slightly, standing up.

Carly nodded in understanding. "Leave me with her a minute, why don't you go check on the others and make sure they're all getting ready?" she asked. She shut the door behind him and walked over to the bed.

Courtney finally stirred. She turned around and looked up at Carly. "I can't do this," she whispered. "I can't."

Carly didn't say anything. Wordlessly, she got into bed next to Courtney and the two of them clung together, sobbing over what was lost. They stayed like that, crying, for nearly half an hour before finally, Carly pulled back slightly.

"We'll get through today," she promised. She was always the stronger of the two of them; she couldn't lose that now. "You'll see. We'll get through today, and then we'll get through tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that. You know why?"

"Why?"

"We have to. Courtney, we have to go on not just for us, but for our children." Carly's eyes and tone of voice darkened somewhat over the next words. "And especially for Sonny and Jason and Jacob."

Courtney raised her head slowly and looked Carly in the eye. "Carly," she whispered, as the meaning behind Carly's words sunk in.

Carly nodded slowly. "We have all of Sonny and Jason's resources available to us at the snap of our fingers. The bidding wars for their territories are just beginning to heat up, but nothing can be done until the reading of the wills." Her voice got caught in her throat at the mention of the will. "So we have time, Courtney. Time to come up with a plan to make sure whoever is responsible for this pays for the pain that they are causing us right now."

Courtney shook her head. "We don't even know who did this," she said, her voice stronger and louder than it had been in days. "I will not put the rest of my family in danger because of your reckless pursuit of anyone you think crossed Jason and Sonny!"

"You think I'm going to put any of us in any more danger? I'm protecting us!" Carly argued. "For god sakes Court! Michael is in the hospital in a coma! When he wakes up, I'm going to have to go in there and tell him his father is dead. You know Michael. He's going to do something stupid like try and go after the Five Families himself. I can't let that happen. I have to have a plan to keep him and us safe."

"You mean like Sonny and Jason did?" Courtney's hands flew to her mouth as she realized what she said.

Carly leaned down and drew Courtney close to her in a hug again. "That's the most reaction I've gotten out of you all week," she whispered as Courtney cried. "You feel that anger in your heart? Feel how it bites and stings? Hold onto that Court, but don't direct it towards Jason or Sonny. Put all of your hurt and anger and sadness into revenge Courtney." She spoke low and carefully. "That's what's going to get us through today. Knowing that we will get revenge on anyone that may have had anything to do with this."

Courtney nodded. She wasn't sure if she believed Carly was right, but if it got her through today, she could fake it for now.

Carly left Courtney alone then, so that they could both get dressed and ready for the day.

Back in her bedroom, Carly sat down at her desk and pulled a notebook out of the bottom drawer. The last week had been full of sleepless nights, and Carly had taken advantage.

The notebook was Carly's new baby, her prized possession of late. In it, she had penned a very detailed, extensive plan of attack.

Lorenzo Alcazar, Faith Roscoe, Frank Paretti, Marcus Del Rossi and Robert Giancamo, aka, the Five Families. One of them had something to do with the deaths and she would find out which one. They all had similar vested interests in Sonny and Jason's territories, and all had the power to eliminate them.

Carly stared at the names, knowing all five would be at the funeral today. She closed the notebook and placed it back in the desk drawer, sliding it shut once more.

Revenge would be hers, this much was certain, she thought, tracing her fingers over the framed picture of her and Sonny that sat next to a vase of flowers. But it could wait. She was not going to disgrace her husband or her best friend on the day they were laid to rest.

Once dressed, she gave herself a once-over in the full-length mirror. The picture of a grieving widow, in a black dress and heels and the strand of pearls Sonny had given her on their tenth wedding anniversary.

She smiled bitterly into the mirror, adjusting her hair. Faith Roscoe may have the monopoly on the nickname the Black Widow, but as anyone in Port Charles knew, Carly Corinthos was not a force to be reckoned with.

Before leaving the room, she paused and picked up the picture of her and Sonny. "I'll do everything I can for you," she whispered.

Everything.

* * *

Author's Note Well, this is certainly a different story than the other's I've written. I've had this one floating around my head and on paper for a few weeks now and finally decided to see if I could make it work. I know there are quite a few stories surrounding other people taking over the "Business", and I've read most of them and noticed that not one of them has Courtney taking any part in it. I decided to explore this idea, because I think the irony of it is going to make for a good story. Agree? Disagree? Let me know.

Oh, and I know that on the show Courtney can't have kids, but the next chapter will explain everything that was brought up in this chapter. Please please please let me know what you think!!!


	2. Grief

Courtney looked down at the family portrait she was holding in her hands. It had been taken about 2 months ago, on the twins' 17th birthday. She was sitting on the couch, holding Lila, who was 4, on her lap. Riley, one of the twins sat next to her, while Jason, Jason Jr., Riley's twin, and Jacob, who was 15, all stood behind them. Everyone was smiling.

She sighed, shakily setting the picture back on her nightstand. The next family portrait would be missing two.

Dammit,she silently cursed herself. She had finally stopped crying not 10 minutes ago, long enough to put on enough make-up so that she didn't look dead.

Dead. She hated that word more than she ever thought possible. She bit down hard on her lower lip to keep from crying and stood up. She hadn't seen her kids yet today. Well, Jack had been in her room this morning, but she hadn't actually spoken to him.

She closed the bedroom door behind her and headed down the hall to the stairs heading downstairs. She paused at the door at the top of the steps and pressed her hand against the cold hard oak. She hadn't been able to bring herself to go into Jacob's room since that night. Emily was the one who went in and picked out a suit from his closet. Courtney just couldn't bring herself to open that door and see the room as he left it. She leaned her forehead against the door for a moment.

* * *

"_It's a boy!"_

_"A boy? Are you sure?" Jason asked incredulously._

_"I think she'd know honey," Courtney chided her husband, struggling to sit up to see her new baby. "Is he okay?" _

_"He's fine, absolutely perfect," Dr. Henderson pronounced. "Let me just clean him up for you first."_

_"How you feeling?" Jason asked, holding Courtney up in a sitting position. _

_"Still no pain," she said, smiling, thankful for whatever drugs they had given her. She reached eagerly for the baby the doctor was handing her. "Hey sweetie," she cooed, placing a kiss on the newborn's forehead. She looked up and smiled at Jason again. "He's absolutely beautiful."_

_"Yes he is," Jason agreed. He looked up at the doctor. "How much does he weigh? He looks so much bigger than the twins did."_

_"Nine pounds exactly," Dr. Henderson said. "I'll be back in a few minutes to take him to the nursery." She disappeared from the room._

_"You sure gave your mom a hard time little buddy," Jason said, taking the baby from Courtney's arms. _

_"Yeah, you took your time getting here, you must get that from your Daddy," Courtney said grinning. It was true, the baby had been a week and a half overdue, and then was born after a 13-hour labor. _

_"What should we name him?" Jason asked._

_"I don't know. We thought we were having a girl. I never even considered any boy's names."_

_"Jacob," Jason said, looking down at Courtney. _

_Courtney giggled. "So we'll have Jack and Jake?" she asked. "I don't know."_

_"We'll call him Jacob, not Jake."_

_Courtney shook her head. "We can call him whatever you want," she said, pulling his head down to kiss him. "Jacob it is."_

_Dr. Henderson came back into the room. "We'll get him settled in the nursery. Courtney, you need to rest soon," she instructed._

_"Dr. Henderson's right," Jason said. "When you wake up, I'll bring the twins in to see you." He stood up to leave._

_"Not so fast," Courtney said, pulling him back down. "Just so you know, Mr. Morgan, I'm not entirely happy with the boy-girl ratio of our family now."_

_Jason shrugged and grinned. "We'll just have to have a girl next time," he said, leaning down to kiss her. "Get some sleep. I love you."_

_"I love you too."_

* * *

"Mom?"

Courtney looked up and managed a small smile. "Hi Sweetheart," she said, giving Riley a hug. "How did you sleep last night?"

Riley shrugged. "Alright, I guess. How are you doing?"

"I'm okay." She tried to sound confident as she spoke. "Where's Lila?"

"Emily's getting her dressed."

Courtney nodded. Emily and Nikolas had all but moved into the penthouse this last week, taking care of everything Courtney was unable to. "Are you ready?" she asked.

"Almost, I just need to find my shoes. I don't know what I did with them yesterday."

Courtney thought back to yesterday, when, upon arriving home from Jacob's funeral she had thrown her own black heels across her bedroom, leaving a mark on the wall. "Check under your bed," was her reply, knowing Riley was enough like her that she had done something similar. "I'll meet you downstairs."

"Mom, I was just coming to check on you," Jack said as she came downstairs. "Do you want some breakfast?"

Courtney managed another small smile and shook her head. "I'm not hungry, thank you," she said, sitting down on the sofa. "We have to leave soon. Are you ready?"

"Mom, you haven't eaten anything since early yesterday," Jack argued.

"Why don't you just have some coffee for now?" Nikolas suggested, alerting Courtney to his presence in the room.

She looked over at him gratefully and nodded. "Coffee would be great," she said as he handed it to her. "Thank you." She looked back at her son. "Are you ready?" she repeated.

"Yeah, I'm ready."

"Good." Before she could say anything else she heard Emily and Lila coming down the stairs.

"Mommy!" Lila threw herself into Courtney's arms. "I missed you! I wanted to see you last night, but Aunt Emily said you were sleeping."

Courtney felt a wave of guilt wash over her, knowing she had neglected her family this past week. She hugged the little girl tightly and kissed the top of her blonde head.

"I missed you too Sweetie," she said. "And Mommy's feeling better today."

"Good." Lila laid her head on Courtney's shoulder. "Is today another sad day?"

"Yeah, baby, it is," Courtney said softly.

"I don't like sad days."

"I don't either," she said truthfully. She gave her another quick kiss. "Why don't you go help Riley look for her shoes, okay? I need to talk to Aunt Emily and Uncle Nik for a minute." She waited until the little girl was back upstairs before talking again.

"Have either of you called the hospital today?" She asked. "Is there any news on Michael?"

"I called a little while ago," Emily said. "He's still not awake, but his condition is slowly improving, they're expecting to move him out of ICU sometime today."

Courtney nodded. "Good. Michael's strong. He can get through this." She was trying to reassure herself, more than them. She needed Michael to wake up so he could tell her why he and Jacob were in the warehouse that night in the first place.

There was a knock at the door, which Nikolas answered.

Max was standing there. "The cars are here," he said.

Courtney stood up. "Thank you Max," she said. She closed her eyes, mentally preparing herself to leave the apartment. Carly's words from earlier this morning rang in her ears. They would get through today, they would. Just like they got through yesterday.

She walked out into the hallway at the same time as Carly and Morgan did. Morgan looked so much like Sonny, Courtney realized. He was only 13, but the spitting image of his father.

"Ready?" Carly asked, holding out her hand.

Courtney nodded, reaching out to clasp it in her own hand.

The speculation had been accurate, they realized, as they walked up the steps to St. Isabella's. There was not one empty pew in the church, and people lined the walls where there was standing room.

Courtney and Carly stood at the back of the church as Emily and Nikolas took the children to their seats.

"They're all here," Carly whispered angrily. "All five of them," she said, pointing to members of all of the Five Families to Courtney.

"Carly, you're not going to do anything today, right?" Courtney asked worriedly.

"No. Not today. Tomorrow, maybe."

Father Andrews came up to them at that moment. "We're ready to begin whenever you are," he said kindly. He took each of their hands in his. "I'm so very sorry for the both of you, as well as your families. You're in my prayers, and if you ever need to talk, I'm here."

"Thank you Father," Carly managed to say for the both of them. Neither her nor Courtney had ever been exactly religious, but Sonny had insisted on him and Carly taking their sons to church every Sunday, and after Courtney had had the twins, Jason had been the same way.

Holding onto each other, they made their way up to the front of the church where their families were waiting. Courtney felt Carly stiffen against her as her eyes landed on the two caskets in front of the altar, and knew how she felt. Her own stomach was starting to turn and she had to take several deep breaths before she knew she was able to sit down.

Courtney tuned out whatever it was that the priest was saying. She didn't need to hear the words; she heard them yesterday. She just stared at the casket on the left.

Her brother, her husband, and her son. They were all gone.

Jason had always promised her that one day they would be free from the life they had. Courtney never entirely believed him, but she had indulged him his fantasy. They would lie in bed at night and talk about it, how they would leave Port Charles one day with the children, and go someplace where no one had ever heard the names Morgan or Corinthos.

But Courtney always knew there was only one way for them to be completely free of the business. It was why she finally accepted her husband and brother for who they were. While she never condoned the way they operated their business, she knew it was better than the alternative. She knew there was only one way they would ever leave the business.

And now that they had, she wasn't sure it was worth it.

The service ended without Courtney realizing it. She only noticed when Carly let out a quiet sob as the caskets were lead past them. She felt her own hot tears sting her eyelids as they followed the procession out of the church and into the cemetery.

Before joining everyone at the burial sites, Courtney broke off from the group and paused in front of the mound of flowers that marked Jacob's grave. She closed her eyes, whispered a prayer, and then took her place at Carly's side.

Again, Courtney didn't listen as the priest spoke. This still didn't seem real to her. She kept her eyes tightly closed, not wanting to watch as her husband and brother were lowered into the ground.

Her eyes flew open however, as she heard the strangled cry as Carly broke away from her side and fell to her knees between the two caskets.

Courtney was at her side in an instant, knowing it was her turn to step up, just as Carly had done yesterday when Courtney herself had all but thrown herself on Jacob's casket.

She sank to her knees and drew Carly into a tight hug. "Shh," she whispered. "It's okay, it's going to be okay Carly."

"They're gone," Carly whispered through her sobs, as though the week's events had just finally gotten through to her. "They're gone, they're not coming back. This is real, they're not pretending, are they?"

"No," Courtney whispered, crying herself now. "No, they're not pretending." She could hear her own children crying behind her, and even though she knew she should be the one comforting them, she also knew she couldn't leave Carly's side. Carly had been her rock all week long; it was her turn.

"Come on Carly," she whispered, rocking their bodies back and forth slightly. "We can do this, remember? We have to." Carly was still sobbing just as violently as she had been before so Courtney switched tactics. "Carly, Morgan needs you right now. You need to pick yourself up, and come sit back down with me and Morgan, okay? Just like I had to come with you yesterday." Carly relaxed slightly and allowed Courtney to bring her back to their seats. She kept her arm around Carly's waist and nodded slightly at the priest to let him know he could continue.

* * *

It was several hours later, several long hours actually, when they were finally back at the Penthouse and away from all of the concerned friends and family and business associates.

Mike had offered to come and sit with Courtney, but she managed to convince him that she just wanted to be alone. Carly and Morgan were at the hospital, visiting Michael, but Carly had promised to call her as soon as she was home. Courtney herself told Emily and Nikolas that she just needed an hour to herself and then she would be out of her room, promising them that she was fine.

As she lay on the bed and stared sideways at the family picture she had looked at earlier in the day she felt even more guilt wash over her. Her children needed her now. Yes, they had Emily and Nikolas there, but she knew it wasn't the same as having their mother comfort them. Lila still didn't fully comprehend what had happened, and Jack was busy trying to take care of everything he knew that Jason would have been doing, and Riley, well, she had absolutely no idea how Riley was doing.

She couldn't face them though. Not yet. How could she handle their grief when she couldn't handle her own?

Her eyes shifted to the bottle of sedatives that sat on the nightstand. Emily had prescribed them to help her sleep, but Courtney hadn't taken any of them. She already felt numb; she didn't need pills to help with that.

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. She could still smell Jason's cologne on the pillow next to her, even though the scent was beginning to fade. Her thoughts turned back to that night, the last time she kissed him good-bye, the last time she smelled the cologne on his neck.

She opened her eyes and sat up. She couldn't think about that. She had to go and make sure her children were okay.

She opened Riley's door first. "Hey Sweetie."

Riley looked up from her bed. "Hi."

"How are you doing?"

Riley shrugged. "Better." She gestured to the books piled up on her bed. "Is it strange that after everything today, I'm sitting here and doing history homework?"

Courtney smiled and shook her head. "Not at all. You know, you don't have to go to school tomorrow if you don't want to," she said.

Riley shook her head. "No, I need to get back. Finals are in 2 weeks and I'm already a week behind."

Courtney nodded. "Okay, whatever you want to do." She didn't even know what to say to her.

Riley nodded. "I need to get back tomorrow," she decided.

"All right. Well, I'll let you get back to studying then. Come see me before you go to bed, okay?" Riley just nodded so after staring at her for a moment, Courtney left the room.

She smiled as she opened Lila's bedroom door and saw she was sleeping. She knelt down next to the bed and pulled the blanket tighter around her.

She was so lucky to have her children, she realized as she knelt there, watching the little girl sleep. She had never dreamed she'd have one child, the possibility of having 4 never even occurred to her. After the miscarriage, she had thrown all of her time and energy into researching fertility treatments and within a year she had the twins. And after that, it seemed as though every time Jason had touched her, she became pregnant again.

Courtney kissed Lila gently and left the room, heading downstairs.

"Hey," Emily said. "I was just going to check on you."

"I'm fine," Courtney replied. "I just checked on the girls. Where's Jack?"

"He went to the hospital to see Michael."

Courtney nodded as she sat down on the sofa. "Em, I need to thank you and Nikolas. There's no way I could have gotten through all of this without you."

Emily shook her head. "You don't have to thank us. And we're here for as long as you need us to be."

"I appreciate that, really, but you two have your own lives, your own children, your own home to get back to." Courtney smiled. "I'll be okay, we all will," she promised. The phone rang and she stood to get it.

She must have gotten up too fast because her knees gave out underneath her and she felt dizzy and lightheaded.

Nikolas caught her before she fell and helped her back to the sofa while Emily answered the phone.

"I'm fine," she protested.

"No you aren't. Courtney, you haven't had anything to eat in the last two days and you can't survive on coffee," Nikolas said. "You need to eat something."

Courtney nodded. "You're right, I know," she said, closing her eyes for a moment. She couldn't even remember the last thing she had to eat.

Emily put the phone down. "That was Alexis," she said. "She said to tell you she was sorry to call tonight but wanted to let you know the reading of the wills is set to be held at the end of the week."

"I'll call Carly and let her know."

"Alexis has already called her. I'm going to go check on dinner, it should be ready in about fifteen minutes."

"I meant what I said earlier," Courtney said. "You two can go home tonight."

Emily shook her head. "We're not leaving tonight. We'll stay through the morning and help you get everyone to school before we leave."

Before Courtney could answer the door opened and Jack came in. "Hey Mom, how are you?"

"I'm doing better. How's Michael?"

"Still no change, but he's out of ICU," Jack answered. "Aunt Carly is still there."

"I should go sit with her," Courtney thought out loud. She started to stand up but Jack stopped her.

"Aunt Carly said to tell you absolutely not," he said. "She wants you to stay here and she'll call you as soon as she can."

"Oh okay." She settled back against the sofa. "Are you going to school tomorrow?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, finals are coming up and I want to keep an eye on Riley."

She smiled at him then, it was like listening to Jason speak. "Jack, thank you," she said reaching over to hug him. "You've done so much this past week, you've been so much like your dad."

Jack shrugged. "It's not a big deal," he said.

"Yeah it is. I mean it Jack, I'm so proud of you. Your dad would be so proud of you."

He stood up then and turned away from her. 'I'm just doing what needs to be done," he said.

Courtney stiffened at the change in his tone of voice. "What exactly do you mean by that?" She stood up when he didn't answer her. "Jack, you better tell me what you're thinking right now," she warned.

"Nothing mom, don't worry about it."

She grabbed his arm and turned him so he was facing her again. "You listen to me and you listen carefully. I hear your tone of voice; you're enough like your father that I know what the meaning of your words really is. I don't want you even thinking it Jack. I don't want you thinking that you can go after whoever it is that did this to our family."

"Someone has to. Dad's dead, mom! Uncle Sonny's dead and Michael's in the hospital." Jack's gray eyes flashed angrily. "Someone killed them and I'll make them pay for it!"

"So you can end up dead too?" Courtney's own voice raised a few octaves. "You're crazy if you think I'm going to stand by and watch you get yourself killed." She looked up the stairs towards Riley's bedroom, remembering she was still awake. When she spoke again her voice was lower.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled," she apologized. "But Jack, I know you know that Jason and Sonny were involved in some shady business dealings."

"You mean the Mob?"

"Shh!" She looked back up to Riley's room. "Like I said, I know you know, but Riley doesn't, and I want to keep it that way. I don't even like that you know." She sighed. "Jack please, don't do anything stupid."

"All right," he said finally. "I promise."

"Thank you." She rubbed her temples tiredly. "Go upstairs and ask Riley if she's hungry, Emily's almost done with dinner." She waited until he was upstairs and picked up the phone to call Carly. She swore when she got her voicemail, but then remembered Carly was at the hospital.

"Carly, it's me. Look, I know you have a plan and I just wanted to let you know, I'm in." She sighed. "We need to start moving fast though, I'll explain why later. Call me as soon as you can. The sooner we get this started, the better." She put the phone down and walked into the kitchen to see if Emily needed any help. She didn't see Jack, who was still standing on the stairway and had heard her call to Carly.


	3. Old Friends and New

Carly stood at the edge of the bar surveying the incoming dinner rush. It was two days after the funeral and she was throwing herself back into work. Whenever she couldn't be with Michael at the hospital, she was at the Cellar.

Her eyes narrowed in the middle of sweeping over the regulars. Sitting at a table in the farthest corner from her were Lorenzo Alcazar and Roberto Giancamo. Perfect, she thought with a sigh. What next, would Faith be joining them?

Taking a deep breath and putting a small smile on her lips, Carly approached the table with her head held high. "Good afternoon," she said calmly. "I trust the two of you are finding everything to your liking?"

"Everything is fine Carly," Lorenzo said, looking her straight in the eyes. She shifted her gaze slightly. "I'm surprised to see you at work so soon, I thought you would be with your sons."

"My sons are well taken care of, thank you for your concern," she said icily. She turned to the other man. "Mr. Giancamo, I didn't know you were staying so long in Port Charles."

"I hadn't planned on it, but a meeting has been called between the families, so I'm here until then," Roberto answered.

"I wasn't informed of any meeting," Carly replied.

"We never considered you would want to attend," Lorenzo said.

"Who then did you think would represent my husband's territories?" Carly asked. "They are, after all, still in my and Courtney's possession."

"All right then," Lorenzo said, his tone almost condescending. "The meeting is tomorrow night at the Haunted Star, at nine." His phone rang then. "Excuse me." He stood up and walked a few feet away.

"Mrs. Corinthos, wait," Roberto said as she started to walk away as well.

"Yes Mr. Giancamo?"

"I did plan on letting you know of the meeting tomorrow, I know the others were not expecting you or your sister-in-law to attend. If it is possible, I would like to speak to you and Mrs. Morgan together, as there are a few things I would like to share with you."

Carly nodded slowly, sizing up Roberto. Sonny had always respected him and Carly wasn't quite sure yet if he could possibly be involved with the bombing.

"Why don't you come to the penthouse later this evening for a drink around seven?" she asked.

"That sounds fine, I will see you at seven." Roberto smiled as he stood up. "Please, know that my family has been praying for your son and a quick recovery."

"Thank you Mr. Giancamo, I will see you tonight." She watched him leave the restaurant before retreating back to her corner and picking up the phone.

"General Hospital's Nurses' Station, how may I direct your call?"

"This is Carly Corinthos, I'm calling for an update on my son."

"Michael is still unconscious but the swelling keeps going down and Dr. Quartermaine is still optimistic that he will wake up very shortly Mrs. Corinthos."

"Thank you. Can you tell me, has anyone been to see him today?"

"Mrs. Morgan was in there for awhile, but I think she's in her office right now, did you want me to connect you to her?"

"No thank you, I'll be there to see Michael shortly. Good-bye." Carly put the phone down and took a sip of water. She was happy to see that Courtney had taken her advice and gone back to work as well. She was about to call Courtney but before she could pick up the phone she heard a large crash come from the kitchen and ran in to see what had happened. Calling Courtney would have to wait.

* * *

Over at General Hospital, Courtney was too busy to answer her phone as it was. Alan Quartermaine had been so impressed with her work with her foundation that fifteen years ago he offered her the position as the head of the hospital's Public Relations department, a position once held by Katherine Bell. While she still oversaw the foundation, most of her time was now consumed with the hospital. She loved her job, and when Carly had suggested she go back the other day, she knew it was something she needed to do.

Her phone rang and without looking at it, she hit the speakerphone. "I said I wasn't taking any calls until later this afternoon," she said to the receptionist.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Morgan, but there is someone here who insists on seeing you."

Courtney sighed and looked at her watch. "Who is it?" she asked.

"Courtney, why don't you just let me in and give this poor woman a break?" the familiar voice rang out from the intercom.

Courtney smiled at the voice and shook her head. She got up and opened the door to her office just in time to be swept into a hug.

"Jax, what are you doing here?" she asked, pulling away slightly and looking up at him.

"I tried to get here in time for the funeral, but business kept me until today."

"I told you that you didn't have to come Jax," she said. She motioned for him to sit down on the sofa and then sat next to him.

"I know, but I still wanted to be here for you. And Carly," he added as an afterthought. "How are you holding up?" he asked softly.

"I'm here," she said simply. "And right now, that's all I can really say unless you want me to lie."

Jax nodded understandingly. "How are the kids doing?"

She shook her head. "Lila doesn't understand what happened, she still asks for Jason every night before bed. Riley, she keeps herself locked in her room so she doesn't have to deal with anything. She says she's studying for finals, but Riley has never been the studious type."

"And Jack?"

"Jack's just like Jason. Putting everyone else ahead of himself." She looked down at his hands. "If he had his way, he'd be going after whoever did this himself."

"Do you think he will?" Jax asked.

"I hope not. But when did anything I say ever stop his father?"

"Courtney, what can I do to help?"

"Nothing Jax, I'm fine, really."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." She smiled. "How long are you in town for?"

"I'm not sure yet. Brenda is flying in early next week, who knows when we'll decide to leave."

"Promise me that you two will come to dinner tomorrow next week," Courtney said.

"Definitely." His cell phone rang just then. "And speak of the devil, that's my lovely wife herself. Excuse me."

Courtney studied the man sitting next to her. If anyone had told her all those years ago that taking that stupid bet with him would lead to one of the dearest friendships she had, she would have laughed in the face. But it was true. After she and Jason had gotten back together, Jax had remained in her life, and stayed on the board of the foundation. Eventually, he and Brenda had reunited and surprisingly enough, the two women had been able to forge a friendship between their husbands.

The years had been good to Jax, she noted, still watching him as he animatedly talked to his wife. Sure there were a few more lines around his eyes when he smiled, but they were the same sparkling blue eyes as ever. His hair had a hint of gray to it, but you wouldn't know it unless you were looking specifically for it. In short, Jax hadn't changed.

"Sorry about that," he said, putting away his phone. "Brenda sends her love, and accepts your invitation to dinner next week." He smiled. "She also insists I take you out to dinner tonight."

"Jax thank you, but I can't," Courtney said.

"Courtney, it's just dinner."

"No, I mean, I already have plans with Carly," Courtney clarified; remembering the message Carly had left her about being at the penthouse at seven. "The um, the reading of the wills is tomorrow, so I'm assuming we're preparing for that tonight."

"Lunch tomorrow then?"

Courtney sighed, knowing she wasn't going to win this fight. "Alright," she relented. "Lunch tomorrow at the Cellar?"

"I'll be there at one," Jax said, grinning. "But I should get going and let you get back to work."

"It's good to see you again Jax," Courtney said. "I'm happy you came back to Port Charles."

"You too, Kid," Jax said. He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

"Courtney will be here any minute," Carly said as she handed a glass to Roberto. "She had a meeting that ran late."

"If anyone understands that, it's me," Roberto said with a smile.

"So tell me, Mr. Giancamo, how well did you know Sonny?" Carly asked, sitting down across from him.

"Not as well as I would have liked, but we were friendly with each other. I had more respect for him and Jason than I did anyone else."

Carly nodded. "He spoke of you highly," she agreed. "Said you made him fell very comfortable whenever he had to go to Italy."

"Sorry I'm late," Courtney said, coming into the penthouse. "My meeting ran late and then Riley couldn't get Lila to eat and—"She paused when she saw Roberto sitting there and looked at Carly expectantly.

"Courtney, you remember Mr. Giancamo," Carly said in introduction. "He asked to talk to the two of us tonight."

"Of course. Hello Mr. Giancamo," she said uneasily, sitting down next to Carly.

"Please, call me Roberto. Both of you." The older man smiled at both of them. "I understand that both of you are wondering why I'm here, and if I could, I'd like to explain." He waited for both of them to nod before continuing.

"I know what both of you are going through right now," he began. "You see, a little over a year ago, my wife was killed in a car accident. Well, a car explosion, if you will."

"I'm so sorry," Courtney broke in.

Roberto nodded. "I was so angry. I had always been so very careful to keep business away from my family, but I was powerless to stop it from happening. At first, I thought the explosion had been meant for me, that someone was trying to kill me, but upon further investigation, I realized that it had been meant for my Gracie." His eyes darkened as he remembered. "I wanted revenge. I wanted whoever had taken my wife away from me to pay for what they had done, but I couldn't do much from Italy, and there was no way I could leave my children and grandchildren. Not when someone had already taken someone from my family."

"Of course," Carly murmured.

"So I came to Sonny and asked for his help," Roberto continued. "And he and Jason agreed to help me uncover who was responsible."

"Sonny never told me," Carly said as she looked over at Courtney, who shook her head.

"We had to be careful, we didn't want anyone else put in danger," Roberto explained. "And Sonny and Jason were close to finding out who killed my wife. Very close."

"Too close," Courtney whispered, gripping Carly's hand.

Roberto nodded. "I'm afraid so."

"So you're saying whoever killed your wife killed our husbands?" Carly asked.

"And Jacob," Courtney added.

"That's what I believe, yes," Roberto said.

Carly studied the man sitting across from her. She didn't know why, but she believed him.

"Do you have any idea who?" Carly asked.

Roberto shook his head. "Alcazar, Roscoe, and Del Rossi all had intent and means, that's all I know."

"We figured as much."

"I want you to know, I intend on continuing searching for whomever killed our loved ones," Roberto said. "We all deserve some justice out of this."

"Thank you," Carly replied. "Of course, if you need any help, our husbands resources are just as available to you now as they always have been." She didn't even need to look over to Courtney for confirmation.

"That was my next question for you. What do you plan on doing with the territories?"

Carly lifted her shoulders in a slight shrug. "We're still discussing that actually," she admitted.

"If I may offer a word of advice, hold on to them," Roberto said. "They are a very hot commodity among the families, and a definite bargaining chip should you ever need that. I am sure that Sonny and Jason's associates are capable of handling things for you."

"With all respect, Roberto," Carly said with a smile. "If anyone will be handling my husband's business, it's going to be me."

Roberto smiled in appreciation. "Sonny was definitely right when he said you were fearless." He stood up from his chair. "I should get going. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow." He smiled at both of them. "It goes without saying, but should you ever need any help or anything at all, please, don't hesitate to contact me."

"Thank you," Courtney said, rising and shaking his hand.

"Yes, thank you Roberto," Carly said. "We will see you at the meeting tomorrow night?"

"Good night ladies." Roberto left the penthouse.

"Meeting?" Courtney asked, looking at Carly.

Carly nodded. "The families called a meeting, I'm assuming, to fight over Sonny and Jason's territories. They'll be in for quite the shock when we show up, don't you think?"

Shock wasn't the word Courtney would have used, but she knew they were definitely in for something tomorrow.

The only question was, what?


	4. The First Meeting

"Do I look okay?" Carly asked, holding her silver compact in front of her and fidgeting with her hair.

Courtney threw a glance over to the opposite side of the limo. "It's a mob meeting, not a dinner party," she said with no trace of amusement in her voice.

"Point taken." Carly snapped the compact shut and dropped it into her purse.

"Carly, what exactly are we going to say tonight?" Courtney asked.

"We're letting them know that none of them are taking over Port Charles," Carly said. "And that while ultimately you and I are in charge, for now all business will be conducted through Danny and Aidan." Danny and Aidan had been Sonny's top men next to Jason.

"Are they going to be here tonight?"

Carly nodded an affirmative. "Calm down Courtney, if you want, I'll do all the talking. We're going to be fine tonight."

Courtney sighed. "I'm just a little on edge, that's all. And I think that's a perfectly fair response."

"Everything will be fine," Carly repeated. "Just remember what I told you about the funeral. We're going to be facing the ones responsible for the explosion. This is the first step Courtney, we're going to go in there and show we're not scared of them and that we're not going anywhere. Once they see that, we're going to be off in the right direction.

"What exactly is your plan Carly? How do you plan on finding out who planted the bomb?"

"I'll tell you later, we're here," Carly said, dodging Courtney's question. She knew Courtney wasn't ready to hear all of the details she had carefully penned in that notebook still hiding in her desk drawer.

Aidan greeted them as they got out of the limo. "Danny's already inside, I wanted to wait out here and walk in with you though," he said, shutting the car door behind him.

"Thanks Aidan," Carly said, smiling her appreciation. "Is everyone else here?"

"No, Alcazar isn't in there yet." He held the door open for them and they walked into the Haunted Star where they were immediately greeted by Faith.

"My my my," she mused, looking over the two women. "Who would have ever imagined that the two of you would ever set foot in a mob meeting. Especially you, Miss High and Mighty," she said, rolling her eyes at Courtney. "Did you receive my card of condolence?"

Aidan stepped up but Courtney stopped him. "It's okay Aidan," she said. She smiled tightly at Faith. "Yes, it was lovely, but forgive me if you don't receive a thank-you note."

"Ladies, is everything okay?" Alcazar asked, stepping into the room.

Faith smiled brightly. "Finally, you're here!" she said. "We can get this over with."

Everyone seated themselves around a table, with Danny and Aidan standing behind Carly and Courtney.

"Well, first things first," Alcazar began. "Mrs. Corinthos and Mrs. Morgan are here on behalf of their husbands and will be treated with the same respect we would have given them." Faith snorted and Alcazar glared at her before continuing. "The main reason we've called this meeting is because each of us has prepared an offer for the two of you."

"An offer?" Carly repeated. "An offer of what?"

Faith rolled her eyes again. "Oh is this really necessary?" she asked. "These two have no idea what's going on here, couldn't we just tell them we're taking what belongs to us now?"

"Mrs. Corinthos," Marcus Del Rossi spoke up finally. "With all due respect, your husband's death, however unfortunate it may be, has provided you with the opportunity to become extremely wealthy."

"With all due respect," Carly said evenly. "Mrs. Morgan and I are already extremely wealthy."

"What Mr. Del Rossi means," Alcazar broke in. "Is that each of us have prepared an offer towards the two of you for the Port Charles territories."

"Ah yes, the territories." Carly leaned back in her chair. "Well as I'm sure you all know, my husband and Jason left those territories, as well as all of their business holdings, in the possession of myself and Courtney, and we are free to do whatever we want with them."

"However," she continued, making eye contact with each of them. "Courtney and I have discussed it, and while we appreciate any offer you may have come up with, we have decided that we won't be accepting any of them, and will keep them in our names."

"You're kidding right?" Faith scoffed.

"On the contrary, I'm completely serious," Carly replied. "At this time, Courtney and I feel that giving up any of the holdings would be a mistake."

"This is ridiculous," Faith protested. "Does anyone else see how ludicrous this is? The widows Corinthos and Morgan holding power in Port Charles? Any worth this town may have had is going down the drain as we speak! Mute Bunny over here goes running to the police every time she sees something illegal going on. How many times has she alone almost sent all of us to prison?" She glared at Courtney, who smiled at a memory of Jason complaining about Faith's theatrics at every meeting.

"Do I amuse you now?" Faith asked, seeing her smile.

"Faith." Roberto's voice had a hint of warning in it.

"I'm only saying what we're all thinking!" Faith protested. "We all know the only reason they're doing this is because they think they're going to find out who toasted their husbands."

"Did you have anything to do with it Faith?" Carly asked, her eyes flashing. Courtney shot a look at her, calming her down.

"No, I didn't."

"Then you don't have anything to worry about." Carly took a deep breath. "As it is, Courtney and I are not pursuing the people who murdered our husbands, we are leaving that matter to the police."

"Then why hold on to the everything?" Alcazar asked. "For as long as I've known the two of you, both of you haven't been exactly quiet about your distaste for anything related to the business."

"Selling our holdings to any of you would be a slap in our husbands' faces," Carly said matter-of-factly.

"Well don't hold back or anything," Faith said sarcastically.

"I mean no disrespect, but it is the truth," Carly said. "Now, we thank you all for your offers, whatever they may have been, but we won't be needing to hear them. We're not selling anything. For the time being, all of our business will be handled by Danny and Aidan," she said, gesturing to the two men behind her. "But ultimately, they will be running all decisions by either Courtney or myself."

"Are you sure there is no changing your decision?" Marcus asked.

"Our minds are made up."

"Looks like we'll be taking over the good old fashioned way," Faith said, her voice filled with mock cheeriness.

"That sounds an awful lot like a threat," Carly said.

"A threat, a promise, take it how you want it," Faith said dismissively. "You didn't honestly expect all of us to sit back and let this go?"

"Ladies," Lorenzo broke in, a hint of amusement in his voice. "There's no need for idle threats here tonight, this was meant to be a friendly meeting."

"And seeing as how we won't be wasting any more time by hearing your offers, then the meeting is over with, isn't it?" Carly asked.

"Already trying to run things, aren't you now?" Faith asked.

"Faith!" This time, Alcazar's voice was sharp. "Carly, are you sure you and Courtney aren't willing to at least consider the offers made to you?"

Carly shook her head. "We're not accepting any deals," she said firmly. "But we do appreciate the offers." She looked to Courtney who nodded in agreement.

"Well we respect your decision," Roberto said, gesturing around the table. "And on behalf of all of us, I assure you that you will be treated with the same respect as your husbands were." Faith snorted again, and this time was greeted with glares around the table.

"Thank you," Carly said, pushing her chair back from the table. "Unless there is anything else, we'll be saying our good-byes now."

"I think we've covered everything for now," Marcus said, looking around the table as everyone nodded in agreement. "Mrs. Corinthos, Mrs. Morgan, thank you for you time."

"And thank you for yours." Carly stood up, followed by Courtney. "Good evening." They walked out, Danny and Aidan following them.

"Good job in there, Carly," Danny said. "I think you might have found your calling."

"As mob boss?" Carly snorted, but they could see the satisfaction in her eyes. "We accomplished everything I wanted to today, and we pissed Faith off, which I see as a bonus." She turned to Danny and Aidan. "Thanks for having our backs in there tonight."

"Not a problem Mrs. C. Mrs. M." Both men spoke simultaneously which caused a chuckle from both Carly and Courtney.

"Carly, do you think Roberto is everything he seems to be?" Courtney asked as they walked back to the limo.

"I'm not sure," Carly said thoughtfully. "I think he's on the up and up, but I know better than to take everything on face value. We're going to have to do some research on our husbands' relationships with everyone there tonight."

"We can help with that," Aidan said, opening the limo door for Carly.

Courtney was about to get in the other side when she saw a figure coming out of the shadows toward them.

"Jack." Her voice was sharp as she called to him.

"Hey Mom," he said evenly. "Aunt Carly."

"Jack, what are you doing here?" She was fighting to keep her voice calm.

"Taking a walk. What are you doing here?" His eyes traveled towards the Haunted Star. "A meeting?"

"It's dangerous to be out here alone at night, you know that!" Courtney insisted. "Haven't you learned anything in the last month?"

"Haven't you?" Jack shot back. "What are you and Aunt Carly doing here?"

"Nothing Jack," Carly said, "We just had one meeting with everyone to let them know who was going to be handling the coffee shipments from now on. That's all." She was about to say more when her cell phone rang.

"You didn't sell it to any of them, did you?"

"Jack, please," Courtney begged. "Don't worry about any of this, we have it all under control."

"Oh my God, you did. You sold out to one of the other families." Jack shook his head. "How could you do that? Do you know what you've done?"

"Seems to me like you know way more than you're letting on Jack," Courtney said, her voice low. "And I don't even think I want to know what all you know, but I'll tell you this. Forget it all. Forget everything you're father ever told you."

"I can't do that."

"Court!" Carly snapped her phone shut. "That was my mom. Michael's awake!"

"Thank God." Courtney gave her a quick hug. "Go, take the limo. I'll walk home with Jack, and I'll tell Morgan. Call me when you get there."

She grabbed Jack's arm and led him down the street. "Apparently, you and I have some talking to do," she said through clenched teeth.

"Mom, I'm sorry," Jack said. "I shouldn't have snapped like that." He paused, trying to figure out the best way to say what he was going to say next. "Mom, you know I know what exactly Dad and Uncle Sonny did, right?"

She nodded. "Yes, but Jack—"

"When I found out, I had a lot of questions," he continued. "And even though he didn't want to, Dad answered them all for me. Sonny was doing the same thing with Michael too."

"What kind of questions?"

"They all started out easy enough. Why would they do that? How could the do that? Why were they never in jail? Before Dad could stop it, I was really interested in it. I would eavesdrop on phone conversations, listen in on meetings, pretty soon he had no choice. He started to show me how things were done."

Courtney's stomach turned to ice. She stopped walking and faced her son. "Jason was training you to take over?" she whispered incredulously.

"We didn't tell you because we knew how you would react," Jack said. "But Mom, he was keeping me in all completely legal business."

"It's never all completely legal, don't you understand that? My God! How could Jason do this?" Courtney sighed, closing her eyes tightly.

"He did it because he was a good dad," Jack said firmly. "He couldn't look me in the eyes and lie to me, so he told me as much of the truth as he could without putting me in danger."

"What about Jacob?" Courtney asked. "Did he know too? Is that why he was down there?"

Jack sighed. "I don't know why Jacob was there. I knew that Dad and Uncle Sonny said they had a meeting to go to, but I think Michael and Jacob just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"God, I hate this," Courtney said, opening the door to the penthouse. "I hate this so much."

"Mom, there's something I need to show you."

"What?"

Jack hesitated. "It's in Dad's office," he said quietly.

Courtney froze. She hadn't stepped foot in that office since Jason had died. "Jack," she whispered.

"Mom, please. You really need to see this. You and Aunt Carly."

"Alright," she said. "But first, we need to go talk to Morgan."

Jack nodded. "Let's go tell him the good news."

As they headed over to the other penthouse Courtney realized she was shaking. How much could Jason possibly have told Jack, and what did Jack know that she didn't?

* * *

_Author's Note: _Well that took about forever to write! I know, I know, it seems a little slow, but next chapter will be dealing with Carly and Michael, and we'll get to see a little bit more of Carly's plan, as well as what exactly Jack knows. I also have to give a major shout out here to Rheanne, for pretty much ensuring I was on the right track with this chapter, in detailing the meeting as well as starting to define Jack's role. Thanks!


	5. A Light in the Dark

Carly stood outside of Michael's hospital room and peeked through the window. She closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw his eyes were open. She was about to go inside but froze mid step.

How was she going to tell Michael that the two most important men in his life were gone?

Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the door and smiled brightly. "Oh my God, Michael, it's so good to see your eyes open!" she said, rushing over and hugging him tightly.

"Hey Mom," he said, his voice muffled by her shoulder. He laughed after a few moments. "You can let go anytime."

"Not a chance," Carly said, leaning back slightly and ruffling his hair. "You gave us quite a scare there, you know."

"I'm sorry. Mom, what happened? One minute Jacob and I were walking down by the warehouse, and then there was a flash, and that's all I remember."

Carly nodded. "There was an explosion, you guys were pretty close to it," she said.

"Dad and Uncle Jason were in that building though. And Jacob was with me. Why isn't Dad here?"

Carly shifted in her chair. "Dad can't be here right now," she said softly. "Michael, you just woke up a little while ago, what have the doctors said? Are you hungry? Can I get you anything to drink?"

"Grandma Monica has been in here three times, and Emily once. I'm fine, just tired and confused, and no I don't want anything to drink. Mom, is Jacob okay? Was he hurt in the explosion too?"

Carly started to open her mouth but before she could say anything the door opened and Courtney came in.

"Hey Michael!" she said brightly. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm awake," he said as his aunt hugged and kissed him. "Maybe you can tell me more than what mom is. Is Jacob okay?"

Courtney's eyes met Carly's, and they both sighed in unison.

"What?" Michael asked.

"Jacob was hurt pretty badly, Michael," Courtney said quietly.

"So was I. He's going to be okay though, right?"

Courtney shook her head. "No, he's not," she whispered. "Jacob didn't make it, he—he died Michael."

"Oh." Michael looked down at his hands for a minute and then looked up at her again. "Is Uncle Jason here?"

Courtney looked at Carly again, unsure of what to say. Carly's eyes were watery and her lips were trembling.

"Michael, honey," Carly began, her voice barely audible. "Jason didn't survive the explosion either." She tried to prepare herself for the next announcement.

Michael's eyes darkened considerably and he twisted the bedspread tightly between his fingers. "Jason's dead?" he looked back at Courtney, who nodded. "Where's Dad?" he asked, his voice tight and controlled.

"Michael—"

"Where's my Dad?" he repeated, his voice rising.

"He's dead," Carly whispered. She reached over to hug him, but he pushed her away.

"All three of them?" he said, his hands still twisting the blanket. "Why? Who did this? Was the explosion an accident or intentional?" He continued without letting them answer. "Of course it was intentional. They were getting too close, they were too close to finding out who was responsible. They knew too much, and someone found out." He was rambling now, but Courtney understood what he was saying. He just confirmed everything Jack had told her earlier.

Carly though, was confused. "What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Nothing," Michael said. Courtney was surprised to see how much like Sonny he really was. Refusing to explain it to Carly, because he would rather she didn't know what he knew was something Sonny always did.

Courtney didn't have that luxury of not knowing though, and she knew she had to tell Carly.

"Michael, I know this is all sudden and overwhelming, and I wish there had been an easier way to tell you, but—"

"No, its okay Mom," Michael said, reaching out and squeezing her hand. "You had to tell me." He paused. "Is Morgan here?"

"Yeah," Courtney said. "He's right outside."

"Can I see him? Alone." He looked at Carly. "Just for a minute, please?"

Carly nodded as she and Courtney both stood up. "I'll be right outside," she said. She kissed him once more on the forehead and then followed Courtney out into the hallway.

"God Court, did you see how he shut down when we told him?" Carly asked, once Morgan was in the room with Michael. "He's not even crying, and what was he talking about when he said they knew too much?"

Courtney sat down on one of the waiting room couches and waited until Carly sat next to her. "I've got to tell you what Jack told me tonight, only I'm not sure how to say it. And you have to promise me to stay calm when you hear it, okay?"

"I don't have the energy to fly into a rage, what did Jack tell you?" she asked.

"God, there really is no easy way to say this," Courtney sighed. "Jason and Sonny were teaching Michael and Jack all about their business."

"You're not serious."

"Jack said it all started when he began asking questions, and finally, the answers weren't enough and Jason started to show him how things were done. He said Sonny was doing the same thing with Michael, only they didn't tell us because they knew how we'd react."

"Are you sure he's telling the truth and not just trying to worm his way into the business himself?"

Courtney shrugged. "I don't know. He says that there's something in Jason's office that he needs to show me that will explain a lot, but we came here before he could show me."

"Son of a bitch," Carly whispered, her head swinging back towards the hospital room. "How much do you think they know?"

"Probably more than we do," Courtney said truthfully. "Jack did say that Jason and Sonny were keeping them in completely legal matters though."

"I don't believe that for one bit," Carly said. "Damn it Sonny, why do you always go and make things so difficult? Even when you're not here, you put me through hell with that son of ours." She lifted her eyes towards the ceiling and touches the strand of pearls that hadn't left her neck since the funeral, a gesture Courtney had seen her do often these past few days.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Courtney asked.

Carly shifted her gaze from upward, to the hospital room, and then finally to Courtney. "We get them the hell out the business, that's what we do."

"How do you plan on doing that?"

"By stepping up our plan." She sighed. "What do you think Jack wants to show you in Jason's office?"

"I have no idea." Courtney shrugged.

"I hate to suggest this, but maybe we can use the boys to help us," Carly said, twirling a strand of hair between her fingers thoughtfully.

"Absolutely not."

"Well not like, hands-on help, but they might know information about the Families that we don't know," Carly explained.

"What exactly is this plan of yours Carly?" Courtney asked.

"I can't really get into it here," Carly said, gesturing around the waiting room. She lowered her voice. "But basically, we're going to go use the families against each other to figure out who killed our husbands, and in the process, eliminate the mob from Port Charles."

Courtney raised her eyebrows. "That's a little over our heads, isn't it?" she asked cautiously. "I mean, now that Sonny's gone, you know Alcazar or Faith are going to do everything they can to take control here."

"They can't do much if they're dead," Carly explained.

"Absolutely not!" Courtney whispered loudly. "I will not kill anyone and neither will you!"

"We won't have to," Carly said confidently. "If everything goes according to plan, the families will eliminate themselves with just the slightest bit of pushing from us." Her dark eyes glittered. "I've got it all figured out Courtney, trust me, if everything goes according to plan, we won't have a drop of blood on our hands."

"And if things don't go as planned?"

"Then we'll do whatever is necessary." Carly sighed. "I thought you wanted to do whatever needed to be done for our family to be safe."

"I do, but Carly—"

"No buts then. Just trust me. Everything is going to work out in the end. It may take some time; I know this isn't going to happen in a blink of an eye. Everything needs to be timed out perfectly, and precisely planned."

"I guess," Courtney said, doubt filling her voice. "I just don't want anyone else hurt," she said softly. "I can't lose anyone else."

"We won't. That's a promise I can make with total confidence," Carly said, standing up. "Now, I need to go spend some time with Michael and Morgan."

"Are you going to tell Michael that you know about him and Sonny?"

"Eventually. Don't get me wrong, I'm beyond thrilled he's awake finally, but being in a coma for two weeks isn't going to protect him from all of the yelling I'm going to do later on."

Courtney laughed. "Just concentrate on Michael finally being awake," she reminded her. "Do you want me to take Morgan home, or are you keeping him here with you?"

"Here with me. The three of us need to talk about what happened." Carly's face changed again. "How awful for Michael to wake up to find out that 3 of the people he loved most in this world are dead." She took a deep breath. "But you're right, he is awake, and that's the best news we've had in a long time."

"He'll be okay, just like the rest of us will be," Courtney assured. She gave Carly a hug. "I'll take Jack home and see what's so important in Jason's office."

"Okay, I'll call you in the morning. Good-night."

All too quickly Courtney found herself back at home and dreading to go inside. With a determined deep breath she opened the door.

"How's Michael?" Jack asked from his spot on the couch.

"As good as we could expect. I think he's in shock, just learning about everything." Courtney dropped her purse on the coffee table. "Where are the girls?"

"Lila's sound asleep and I think Riley's studying for another test."

"And why aren't you studying?"

"Already done. I was waiting for you. Mom, I really need you to listen to what I have to say."

"I know," Courtney said reluctantly.

"I know this is hard for you. It's not all that easy for me either. Can I please show you what's in dad's office?" Jack asked, standing up.

Courtney nodded. "Let's go," she said, heading down the hallway to the second room in the house she couldn't bear to enter.

She felt a pang of sadness rush through her as she opened the door and turned on the light. Everything was the way Jason had left it, meticulously neat, not one thing out of place. A small smile tugged at her lips as she ran her hand along the edge of the pool table that stood in the middle of the room. If she closed her eyes and breathed deeply, she could still smell the scent of Jason's cologne in the room and it comforted her.

"Mom?" Jack's voice brought her out of her reverie and she turned to see him kneeling next to a file cabinet and pulling out a false panel to reveal what was obviously Jason's hiding spot.

"Dad once told me, if anything happened to him, that this file would probably help determine what happened to him," Jack said. "I never looked at it, because I knew he only wanted me to if something happened to him, and his trust meant more to me than anything."

"What does it say?" Courtney asked, kneeling next to him.

"I haven't read it. You should be the first." He handed her the file. "I know you and Aunt Carly have something planned, I heard you on the phone the night of the funeral."

"Jack, I know you think you can help, but I don't think that's an idea I'm very comfortable with," Courtney said, gripping the file in her hand.

"Well I'm not very comfortable with the idea of my mom becoming a mob boss," Jack said.

"That won't happen," Courtney said, not knowing if it was true or not. She still didn't really understand Carly's entire plan.

"Are you going to open it?" Jack asked, nodding at the file.

She nodded back at him and looked back down at the thick file in her hands. She flipped it open and scanned the first few pages, not believing what she saw.

"Oh my God!"

**_

* * *

_**

**_Author's Note: _**Hmm, what's in the file? Guess you'll have to wait and see. I'm not really sure about this chapter, but then again, I'm not really sure about this whole story, I just know that its fun to write! I also know it still seems kind of slow-moving, but trust me, now that Michael's awake and Carly and Courtney know about their sons being involved, things are definitely going to pick up. Just bear with me! As always, feedback is appreciated!


	6. Suspect

**_Disclaimer: _**The characters of GH, as well as General Hospital itself, don't belong to me.

**_Author's Note: _**Wow, this story has been keeping me up at night, I've been struggling with this update, but I think I've finally got it all worked out. Thank you everyone who has read and reviewed, hopefully, you'll enjoy this chapter.

* * *

"Mom?" Jack put his hand on Courtney's arm. "What is it? Are you okay?"

"This can't be," she murmured. She lifted her eyes from the file and looked at Jack. "This does makes things a little more difficult," she admitted quietly. She rocked back on her heels and closed the file. "You said Jason was talking to you about business?"

Jack nodded. "Uncle Sonny too."

"What can you tell me about Roberto Giancamo?"

Jack thought for a moment, and again, Courtney was blown away by how much he reminded her of Jason. His mannerisms were nearly identical to his father's, down to the way his eyes were squinted, and his jaw set tightly.

"Dad and Uncle Sonny had a fight about him a few weeks before the explosion," he said, breaking Courtney out of her trance.

"What about?"

"Dad didn't trust him. I don't know what the fight was about but Uncle Sonny kept saying 'it wasn't him' and dad thought it was. But I don't know what it was that Dad thought he did."

Courtney nodded, her mind racing a million miles a minute. She flipped the file open again and began scanning the pages. After a few moments she realized that Jack was still staring at her. "It's late," she said absentmindedly. "You should get to bed."

"Mom, what does that say?"

She sighed. "Jack, I just got thrown into this myself, I just found out you're way deeper involved then I ever imagined possible and I'm not entirely comfortable in discussing this with you." Jack began to protest and she held up her hand and continued talking. "However, I do know that as much as I don't like it, you and Michael are going to be able to help us. I just need to talk to Carly first, deal?"

"Deal." Jack leaned over and gave her a hug. "You should get some sleep too."

"I will I'm just going to hang out here for a little bit." Courtney smiled. "Goodnight, I love you."

"Love you too. Night."

Courtney looked back down at the file in her hands. "What are we getting ourselves into?" she whispered.

One thing was for sure, if Jason's suspicions turned out to be correct, she and Carly were in a lot more trouble than either had ever imagined.

* * *

"You're kidding right?" Carly asked. It was the next morning and the two women were having coffee in Courtney's office at the hospital before Carly went back into Michael's room. "Roberto Giancamo killed his own wife?"

Courtney shrugged and handed the file to Carly. "That's what Jason seemed to think."

"Why? Why would he do that?"

"What better way to gain control of the business than commit a crime, then set up other families as the targeted suspects?" Courtney guessed.

"And then once everyone is fighting with each other, trying to prove their innocence, he had easy access to property dealings and shipments," Carly realized.

"Because who would question the grief-stricken family of the one that was killed?" Courtney finished. "I mean, take us for example. We were never questioned as suspects."

"I guess it does make sense," Carly mused. "But why didn't Sonny agree with Jason?"

"Sonny thought very highly of Giancamo, you said that yourself. Maybe he just didn't believe that he was capable of killing his own family."

"That bastard," Carly said softly. "Sonny and Jason must have found proof that it was him, confronted him, and that's why they're dead. They uncovered his lies."

"We don't know that yet," Courtney argued.

"Please. They found out the truth, and he eliminated them as threats." Carly's eyes darkened angrily. "Can you believe the nerve of that man? Coming into my home, expressing his deepest sympathies and condolences, offering us all the help we would need in finding out who was responsible for this? I swear to God, I'm going to—"

"Carly stop. This is way beyond us now," Courtney said. "Don't you see, we can take all of this to the police and they can worry about it. They are definitely more equipped to handle this than we are."

"Sorry Court. This is our fight. I'm not trusting the PCPD to get us justice." Her eyes glittered as she began pacing. "Of course, Giancamo was nowhere near the warehouse that night, I'm sure he wasn't even in the United States, which means he was working with someone else. But who?" Her eyes lit up. "One of the other families of course. All he would have had to do was promise them the Port Charles waterfront territories. Any one of them would have jumped at the chance to get rid of Sonny."

"Carly, if we're right, this is way too dangerous for us!" Courtney argued. "And it's not just us anymore, Michael and Jack are involved too, and I don't know about you, but I really didn't like asking Jack to tell me what he knew last night. Honestly, I'm afraid to know what he and Michael know."

Carly softened a bit. "Michael wouldn't even talk about it last night," she admitted. "I told him I knew that they were getting involved and all he said was he was sorry he didn't tell me but Sonny told him not to."

"Well, its understandable that he didn't want to talk about it," Courtney said.

"Maybe, but I think he's planning something. I think he'll try and do this himself."

"Or, he'll team up with Jack. Don't you see Carly? This is why we can't do this! We have to go to the police."

"Absolutely not," Carly said firmly. "Courtney, you know I'm right, you're just letting your emotions get in the way."

She sighed. "I know, I know. But what are we going to do? We can't let Giancamo know we suspect him. And I don't know how well I'd be able to lie to him."

"We'll try and stay away from him for awhile." Carly chewed on her lower lip. "I'll get Danny and Aidan to do some digging around, maybe they know something." She was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Come in," Courtney called, slipping the file into her desk drawer.

Jax poked his head in. "Ah, good, you're not busy," he said. "Good morning ladies."

Carly shot a look at Courtney. "Jax. Courtney didn't tell me you were back in town."

"Well I am," Jax said, smiling good-naturedly. "I heard Michael woke up last night, you must be very relieved."

"We all are," Courtney said.

"Carly, Brenda will be in town later this afternoon, she asked me to ask you if she would be able to stop by to see you and Michael."

"That's very nice of her," Carly said. While over the years Brenda and Jax and Jason and Courtney had become friendly, Carly was still somewhat wary of the woman. "I think Michael would like to see her," she added.

"Wonderful. I'll let her know."

"Speaking of Michael, I should get back to his room. I'm not going into the Cellar today, meet me for lunch?" Carly asked and Courtney nodded.

"Sure, I'll meet you in Michael's room. Give him a hug for me." She shut the door behind Carly and faced Jax. "Well, what do I owe this early morning surprise to?"

"Well, the Nurses Ball is coming up soon and I thought maybe since I'm in town, it would be a good time to start discussing benefactors and some of the more pressing details."

"I forgot all about that," Courtney said, looking at her calendar. Sure enough, the Ball was less than three months away. She looked at her planner. "I don't have anything else going on this morning that needs immediate attention, so let's start planning," she said, handing Jax a cup of coffee.

* * *

"Hey, how are you feeling today?" Carly asked, opening the door of Michael's room.

Michael grinned. "If I say I'm feeling really good can I go home?"

"You just woke up, I don't think you'll be coming home for a few days," she said, sitting down next to him. "Grandpa Mike said he'd be by to see you sometime today."

"Yeah, he called a little while ago. I asked him to bring me some fries from the diner."

Carly shook her head. "Good thing your grandparents are heads of the hospital, you can get away with this stuff." She paused. "Michael, I need to ask you something about your dad," she said hesitantly.

"What?"

"Did he ever say anything about a man named Roberto Giancamo?"

"He's from Italy, he runs a few casinos in New York City, right?"

"Right. Did you ever hear Jason and Sonny talking about him?"

"All the time," Michael said. "Dad and Uncle Jason were working with him, or for him, I'm not really sure. I don't know what about, Dad wouldn't tell me."

"Did they ever fight about him?"

"The last few weeks yeah, they fought all the time." Michael looked at his mother, his own dark eyes suspicious. "Do you know Mr. Giancamo? Why are you asking about him?"

"I'm just curious," Carly said, not looking him in the eye. "He's been very helpful to me and Courtney this last week."

"Helpful? With what?" Michael sat up a little straighter. "Mom, have you and Aunt Courtney met with any of the families?"

"We met with all of them, actually. Last night. There was a meeting called."

"Why did you go? Damn it Mom! Why didn't you send Jack?"

"Send Jack? I'm sorry Michael, Courtney and I weren't even aware that you two knew anything until last night. Send Jack? What? Are Courtney and I not competent enough to handle ourselves with a bunch of thugs?"

Michael sighed as Carly's voice became more and more high-pitched and her gestures more animated. He should have known better than to say anything. Now her rambling was gaining momentum and she was lecturing him on how the business was dangerous and illegal and something she never wanted him to be a part of and she didn't understand why he found it so fascinating and blah blah blah, he just sat there, looking at her and nodding occasionally.

"I'm sorry Mom," he said contritely, when she paused to breathe. "You're absolutely right, you and Aunt Courtney are definitely capable of handling yourselves in a meeting with the families, I just never dreamed you would even think to go."

"And I never dreamed you wanted to be just like your father!"

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Yes!" Carly sighed. "I don't know. I don't like the idea of you being involved. Jack either."

"But we are, Mom," he pointed out. "There's nothing you can do about that now but accept it."

"That doesn't mean I have to like it," Carly said stubbornly.

Michael looked at her with an amused expression. "You're not really mad at me," he said. "You can't be. I'm your favorite son, remember?"

"Michael, this is serious!" she protested, trying to keep the smile from creeping onto her lips.

"I know, I know, I'm just saying, I'm your favorite. Don't forget that." He sighed. "So are you going to tell me what happened at the meeting? And more importantly, why do you want to know about Mr. Giancamo?"

Before she knew it, Carly found herself halfway explaining her plan to Michael. While she left out most of the specific details, she outlined that, with the help of Courtney and Danny and Aidan, she was going to try and figure out who was behind the explosion.

And as much as she didn't like hearing it, she knew Michael was going to be a very important part of her scheme.


	7. Coping

**_Disclaimer: _**The characters of GH as well as General Hospital itself don't belong to me.

* * *

"Hey Riley, wait up!" Jack called across the front lawn of PC High. His sister barely slowed down her pace but he caught up with her anyways. "How'd you do on that Calc test?"

"I got a B," Riley said. "You?"

"C plus."

"Ouch." Riley smiled sympathetically at her twin. "I'll help you study for the next one."

"Thanks. Hey, Mom says we can go visit Michael today, do you want to go with me right now?"

"I would but I can't," Riley said. "I promised Mom that I'd go right home and stay with Lila so Kristina could have the afternoon off."

"Kristina isn't with Lila today," Jack said. "She spent the day with Aunt Emily."

"Oh."

Jack stopped her. "Rye, what's wrong?" he asked. They sat down on a park bench.

"Nothing," she insisted. "I just have a lot of homework to do today."

"It's Friday," he reminded her gently. "Don't you want to come see Michael?"

"Yes, but—"

"But what?"

Riley sighed. "I want to see Michael, but I don't want to go to the hospital," she admitted, looking down at the ground.

"Why don't you want to go to the hospital?" Jack asked. "You work there, remember?"

"I quit," she said quietly, not meeting her brother's gaze.

"You quit? Riley, does mom know?"

"She does work there, I'm sure she does."

"Rye, you love that job," Jack said. "Why did you quit? What's going on?"

She sighed. "That night," she whispered. "I was at the hospital that night." She looked up at Jack and knowing that he was going to force the whole story out of her, she continued on. "I saw Jacob."

"I didn't know that. Rye, you didn't tell me."

She lifted her shoulders in a slight shrug. "When?" she asked. "When was I going to tell you? After you and mom came to the hospital to tell me daddy was dead? On the days when mom wouldn't even get out of bed? The funeral?" She shook her head. "There was never going to be a good time and now it's just easier not to talk about it."

"Yeah, but Riley, you saw Jacob. Was he awake, did he say anything?"

"He couldn't say anything, there was already a tube down his throat and—"her voice cracked slightly. "He looked so scared," she admitted. "His eyes were open and he was alert and he was looking at me and I tried to tell him everything was going to be okay but everything was happening so fast and I didn't know what to do." She looked at Jacob helplessly. "I didn't know what to do."

Jack put an arm around her shoulder and let her cry while he tried to think of something to say. "I think you being there was all Jacob needed," he said finally. "You were there to hold his hand so he wasn't alone."

"I guess." Riley took a deep breath and dried her eyes. "But I'm still not ready to go back to the hospital yet, okay?"

"Okay," Jack relented. "But Riley, you should talk to mom about this. She wouldn't like it that you kept this from her."

"I know. I'll talk to her when I'm ready." She recoiled at the look on Jack's face. "Okay, okay, I'll talk to her tonight!"

"Good." Jack looked at his watch. "Alright, I'm going to go see Michael. Can I tell him you said hi?"

"Absolutely." Riley smiled. "I'll see you at home." They took off in separate directions, Jack towards GH and Riley towards anywhere that wasn't home.

There was no way she was talking to her mom tonight.

* * *

Michael was flipping through a magazine his mom had left him when he had forced her to go into work for a few hours. He had claimed to be tired and didn't want her to sit there and watch him sleep, but really, he just hadn't wanted to deal with her questioning him just yet.

"Hey man."

He looked up to see Jack in the doorway and he grinned, tossing the magazine aside. "Jack, hey!" he said. "I've been waiting for you to show up."

Jack grinned back and sat down next to him. "I came as soon as I could," he explained. Mom and Aunt Carly didn't want you to have too many visitors too soon."

Michael nodded. "This is crazy Jack," he said. "I still can't believe they blew the warehouse up."

"I know. We have to figure out what that was about but first, how are you doing? I know everything that's happened had to be hard to wake up to."

Michael shook his head. "I can't believe they're all gone," he admitted. "This wasn't supposed to happen. Dad and Jason wouldn't have been anywhere near that warehouse if they had suspected anything could go wrong."

"I agree. And, if they had known anything, wouldn't they have prepared us for that possibility?"

Michael nodded. "Unless it was a secondary threat?"

"I don't know. We have other things to worry about right now."

"Our moms?" Jack nodded.

"They're getting involved Mike. They know we know more than we're supposed to, and I think they know something we don't."

"Yeah I got that feeling from my mom too." He sighed. "I can't believe your mom went to a meeting," he said. "She's always hated anything having to do with it."

"I can't believe either of them went. I didn't even know one was called, or else I'd have found a way to go."

"Mom told me part of what she's been planning," Michael confided. "I don't like it Jack. I don't like them trying to find out who set off the explosives."

"I know, I tried to tell mom that but she just shut down."

"We both know my mom won't listen to me," Michael said, rolling his eyes. He sighed. "We gotta beat them to it Jack. We have to figure out who did this first."

"Got any ideas?" Jack asked, and Michael nodded. They both spoke at the same time.

"Giancamo."

* * *

Riley wished she had planned her evening a little better. She wished she had brought an umbrella with her at the very least. She ducked into the first building she saw and slammed the door behind her.

_Perfect,_ she thought, looking around. While she had never actually been in this particular establishment, it was almost legendary from the stories her parents and aunt and uncle had told.

"Welcome to Jakes." A bartender leaned against the counter and smiled easily at her. "Want something to take the chill off?"

"Not just yet, thanks," she said, perching herself on a barstool and surveying the place. The bartender went back to stacking glasses and left her alone.

"Haven't seen you here before." The voice startled her out of her thoughts and she nodded at the guy standing to her left.

"Haven't been here before," she replied, smiling slightly.

"You play?" he asked, nodding towards the pool table.

"A little," she said, deciding not to mention just how well she played. "Haven't in awhile." She couldn't stop staring into his dark green eyes.

"Well then I think you're about due for a game. I promise I'll go easy on you." He grinned at her again. "What do you say?"

"Sure," she said with a shrug. She took the stick from his hands and leaned against the nearest table. "You can set them up," she offered, pointing to the balls.

"I think I'm being hustled," the green-eyed stranger said after watching her clear half of the table.

"Never underestimate a girl just because she looks innocent," Riley said, picking up his beer off of the table and taking a sip. She tried not to grimace as the liquid burned her throat. She had been sneaking alcohol from her parents' cabinet for the last week or so, but beer was still something she wasn't sure she would ever get used to.

"So you're saying you're not innocent?" he asked, taking his bottle back from her. She stiffened as she felt his arm snake around her so that his hand rested on the small of her back. She ignored the chill going down her spine and the butterflies in her stomach as she pulled away and answered him.

"I didn't say that either." She winked at him and took another shot at the pool table.

"Cute."

"I think so," she said as she sank the last ball. She spun around and smiled satisfactorily. "Thanks for going easy on me," she said, patting him on the shoulder. She was surprised when he stepped close enough to her so that she could feel his breath on her cheek.

Instead of feeling threatened or scared, as her brain was telling her she should feel, Riley only felt those stupid butterflies in her stomach again.

Feeling brave, she licked her lips and stared defiantly into those amazing green eyes and waited. She knew Jimmy, her bodyguard, well enough to know that the second she kissed this guy he'd come barging into the bar and drag her home.

Sure enough, the second their lips touched she heard the door open and out of the corner of her eye she saw Jimmy staring her down. Sighing, she pulled away and nodded at Jimmy.

"What's your name?" she asked, knowing she only had a few seconds before Jimmy butted in.

He looked her up and down and took a drink from his beer bottle. He grinned and finally answered her.

"Ryan Alcazar."

* * *

**_Author's Note_**: Hmm, I bet that last scene seemed a little out of place with the rest of the story, didn't it? Actually, it's very well placed. I know I haven't really mentioned the kids yet and how they're dealing with everything, but the little streak of rebellion Riley's on is definitely going to play a much bigger part in this story, as is the idea of Michael and Jack against Carly and Courtney in finding out who set the explosion. Complicated? A little, but hey, that's the world of soaps! Oh, and as of right now, Ryan Alcazar is going to be the son of Lorenzo and Lois... you try and come up with someone to pair the girl with that she wouldn't be somewhat related to! LOL. As always, reviews are welcome!!!

Oh, and also, I've started a C2 community, Love Is A Battlefield, which is dedicated to Carson/Journey/mob-centric fanfiction. If you have a story you'd like archived there, let me know!!!


	8. Not Coping

**_Disclaimer:_** I don't own General Hospital or its characters.

_**Author's Note**_: Okay, so I haven't updated this story in FOREVER, but I finally had a little bit of inspiration for it, so look for it to be updated a little more frequently. Since it has been months (5 months to be exact), this chapter will pretty much just sum up what happened in the last chapter, and look for more details of Carly's "plan" in the next chapter! Hopefully I still have a few readers on this story, or maybe I'll get some new ones, so as always, let me know what you think!

* * *

Courtney sighed and looked at her watch. It was getting close to dinnertime and none of her children were home. The room was quiet, too quiet, for her liking and she wished Emily would bring Lila back sooner than she was supposed to.

Of course, she had barely spent any time with the kids since the funeral and she knew that it was affecting them. She glanced at the calendar on the desk and thought about maybe taking everyone to the island as soon as the Nurses Ball was done. She smiled slightly, thinking that they all could use the vacation.

The door opened and she spun around to see Jack coming in. "Hey, where have you been?" she asked.

'The hospital," he said, sitting down on the couch. "Aunt Carly says Michael can come home tomorrow."

"That's great." Courtney finished her writing and moved from the desk. "He must be so excited, we should have a welcome home party or something for him."

"I think Morgan's already planning it." Jack looked around. "Where's Riley?" he asked.

"I'm not sure, at work probably," Courtney said with a glance at the clock. "I really should sit down with her, I don't even know her work schedule for this month."

"Riley hasn't talked to you?"

"No." Courtney's eyes narrowed. "Talked to me about what?"

Jack sighed. "She was supposed to talk to you today after school," he said. "She told me she would anyways."

"About what?" Courtney repeated. "Jack, is she okay?" She knew it was a useless question. As she had been finding out slowly, but progressively, Riley hadn't been okay since Jason had died. "Jack, tell me what's going on."

"Riley quit her job at the hospital right after dad died," Jack said. Courtney started to talk but he interrupted her. "There's more to it Mom. She was working in the E.R. that night. She saw Jacob when they brought him in."

"She was?" Courtney felt tears prick at her eyelids. "How come I didn't know about this?"

"I just found out about it today," Jack said.

"Well, did she see him? Did they talk? Was she with him when—" Courtney's mind was racing a million miles a second.

"She said he couldn't talk," Jack answered. "He had a tube in his throat already, but she said she sat with him, and she held his hand and talked to him."

"Oh." On one hand, Courtney was relieved that Jacob hadn't been completely alone in the hospital, but on the other, she knew it had to have been hard on Riley. And it also explained a lot of why she was behaving the way she was.

Didn't it? Courtney closed her eyes to keep from crying as she realized she had no idea what Riley was reacting to and why.

"Mom, are you okay?"

Courtney started to answer but before she could, there was a knock on the door and Carly came in, a huge smile on her face.

"Court, did Jack tell you, Michael's com—" She saw the look on Courtney's face and turned to Jack, who just shook his head. "Jack, how good are you with American history?"

"Not too bad, why?"

"Morgan needs help with his homework and I have no clue about anything he's talking about." She smiled. "Do you think you could go help him?"

"Sure." He paused and looked at Courtney, and was about to say something, but Carly shook her head slightly and gave him a reassuring smile. She waited until he had left the room and sat down next to Courtney, who was now crying freely. "What's going on Court?"

"I'm a horrible mother," Courtney whispered. She didn't stop to listen, as Carly tried to tell her it wasn't true. "How did things get like this? I don't even know my own children anymore!"

"Yes you do," Carly said. "Come on Courtney, the last month has been rough on everyone, there's no question about that, but you've been nothing but a great mom."

"Really?" Courtney laughed bitterly. "If I'm a great mother, then how come Riley quit her job without me knowing about it and started drinking? How come I'm letting my son be part of the mob? And I wouldn't be surprised if Lila starts calling Emily mommy, because she sees her a hell of a lot more than she sees me."

Carly sighed. "Sweetie, you just lost your husband and one of your children. That's not something you just bounce back from. You're still grieving."

"So are they!" Courtney protested. "And I'm not the one helping them get through it. I don't even know that they are getting through it." She took a deep breath. "Things need to get back to normal as soon as possible," she said quietly.

"They will," Carly assured her.

"No." Courtney shook her head. "I mean it Carly, I know I haven't been exactly excited about whatever your plan is, but we need to put it in action now. And we need to exclude Jack and Michael as much as possible. I know they could help us, but I don't think it's a good idea."

Carly nodded. "I've already started," she said. "Aidan is checking to see who Sonny and Jason may have had any arguments with in the last few months, and if there were any takeover attempts that we don't know of, and as soon as we have that information, we can move from there."

"Good." Courtney took a deep breath. "It's going to work, right?" she asked, looking up.

"Oh yeah." Carly offered her a smile. "It's going to work."

"Okay." She looked at her watch again. "It's getting late. I wonder what's keeping Riley."

"So she's really struggling?" Carly asked sympathetically. Courtney nodded again, but before she could start to explain, the front door opened again and Riley appeared, followed by her bodyguard.

"Riley!" Courtney stood up and crossed the living room to give her a hug. "I was wondering where you were, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Riley said, accepting the hug. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you."

"Where were you? Jack said you quit your job."

Riley nodded. "I was going to tell you tonight, I swear. I just walked around all afternoon, I needed to think." Jimmy cleared his throat and Riley sighed. "I ended up at Jake's," she added. "But I wasn't drinking, I swear! I just needed to get out of the rain," she added quickly when she saw her mother open her mouth. Jimmy cleared his throat again. "Okay, I had one sip of this guy's beer, but that was it." She looked over at Jimmy who nodded satisfactorily.

"What guy?" Courtney asked, pressing her hand to her temple. She wasn't sure what she was going to do if Riley was now picking up older men at the local bar.

"Just this guy I've seen around town a few times," Riley said. "I played a game of pool with him. I won, thanks to Daddy teaching me how," she interjected.

"Well who is he?" Courtney persisted. "Please tell me you know his name."

"It's no one you know, I'm sure," Riley said vaguely. She rolled her eyes as Jimmy once again cleared his throat. "Do you want to just tell her for me?" she asked, whirling around to face him.

"Riley." Courtney's voice was sharp and Riley lowered her eyes and murmured an apology to him.

"His name is Ryan," she said finally. She paused, and then feeling Jimmy's eyes on her, continued on. "Ryan Alcazar."

Courtney heard Carly's sharp intake of breath and turned to face her. "Carly, can you—"

Carly nodded. "I'll go see how Jack and Morgan are getting on with that history homework. Call me later." She smiled at her niece and left the penthouse.

"Is there anything else you need to tell me?" Courtney asked, looking back and forth between Riley and Jimmy.

"No, that's it." She looked to Jimmy for confirmation and he nodded his head.

"Okay," Courtney said, smiling slightly. "Jimmy thanks for getting her home safe. We'll see you tomorrow," she said. He smiled at both of them and left them alone in the room.

Courtney walked across the room, her heels clicking against the hardwood floor the whole way. "We have a lot of stuff to talk about Riley," she said, as she paused in front of the fireplace. "I know I haven't exactly been around a lot lately, and when I have been, we really haven't talked about things the way we should have." She looked at her daughter who just nodded mutely at her. "We can't let things stay the way there are, so the only thing I can think of to do right now, is to talk them all through, one by one, until we're done."

"I don't understand," Riley said, sitting down on the sofa. "So I quit my job and spent the afternoon with a boy. That's not very unusual. And it's hardly worth spending a lot of time talking about."

"Maybe," Courtney mused. "But Riley, you quit your job almost a month ago, and didn't tell me. And you didn't tell me why. And this boy you say you spent the day with? Well, there's a lot you don't know about him. And then there's this." She twisted the key in the liquor cabinet and opened it to reveal several empty alcohol bottles. She crossed the living room again to sit down next to her daughter.

"I'll even let you pick what we talk about first."

* * *

Ryan Alcazar was still seated at the bar, nursing another bottle of beer when his cell phone rang. He flipped it open on the third ring. "I left you a message almost an hour ago," he said as his greeting.

The voice on the other end chuckled. "Best keep that attitude of yours in check, especially with me. Now, what was so important?"

Ryan took another drink of his beer. "That girl you told me to keep an eye on, Riley? Met her tonight."

"Ahead of schedule, that's very good," the voice approved. "Did it go well?"

"Well enough," Ryan replied. "You sure I still need to do this?"

"Let's get one thing straight," the male voice turned rough suddenly. "You agreed to do this, and that means you don't question the things I ask you to do. You just carry out whatever terms I give to you, understand?"

"Yeah sure," Ryan said, rolling his eyes. "So I will continue to get to know this girl. Okay?"

"Yes. I'll be in touch." He disconnected the line and leaned back in his chair, taking a long sip of his brandy. Everything was falling into place nicely.

The Corinthos-Morgan clan had no idea what they were in for.


End file.
